


Different Kinds of Strength

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: Shidge Month 2018 [27]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: And hates going to the doctor, Day 27: Survivor, F/M, He deserves all the ice cream and cuddles, Shidge Month 2018, Shiro has PTSD, slightly angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 00:25:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14461080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: Shiro hates going to the doctor. Pidge knows how to make it bearable.





	Different Kinds of Strength

Pidge pushed open the door to the waiting room, Shiro clutching tightly to her hand as he glanced around nervously. She wasn’t sure what he was apprehensively looking for; it wasn’t like the outdated magazines, aquarium of fish, plastic fern, and kindergartner with pigtails playing with the train table were going to jump out and attack him.

Still, she squeezed his hand. “I’m going to sign in, why don’t you go sit near the fish tank?”

Wordlessly, Shiro nodded, though looked reluctant..

Pidge resisted the urge to sigh as he went to find a chair and she went to the sign-in station.

She hated having to do this twice a year, dragging Shiro to the doctor, because it always turned him into this quiet zombie and she hated the anxiety that it gave him. Shiro hated check-ups since his time as a prisoner; it had always been struggle to even get him into the infirmary on the Castle back whenever he was injured back when they were on active Paladin duty, and he would typically dig his heels in to the point that Hunk or Allura would just pick him up and carry him there whether he liked it or not.

But the stress of living as a Galra prisoner for a year with injuries and illnesses that weren’t always treated plus years of being a Paladin meant that Shiro’s health wasn’t always the greatest. Therefore, these visits were a necessary evil.

So she signed in, initiating the routine that the staff knew well now, then went to sit beside Shiro, taking his hand again. Within moments, a nurse called Shiro’s name and the kindergartner’s mother looked irritated at the two since she and her daughter had obviously been waiting longer. Pidge ignored the feeling of being glared at as she ushered Shiro to his feet and led him on back.

Getting Shiro’s weight was the easiest part of the entire day. For good, bad, and indifferent, the Galra druids and medics had no need to know how much Shiro weighed before they administered drugs or began experiments.

The blood draw was next, the nurse leading them to a small table and chair, equipment already prepared. Shiro shakily sat down and Pidge crawled in his lap, legs around his waist, her forehead to his, forcing him to look her in the eye when otherwise he may have just watched the nurse out of the corner of his eye warily.

“Hey,” She said, reaching up to stroke the side of his head. “Tell me about that book you’re reading right now. The one with the dragon on the cover? Are you enjoying it?”

He started to tell her; what the book was about, and the main character, and that he really liked the author’s style but the plot hadn’t quite gripped him yet.

“You’ll have to let me know,” Pidge said as she crawled off his lap, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Shiro glanced down at the small piece of gauze taped to his inner elbow and turned pale briefly. Pidge held her hand out to the nurse, silently asking for a moment.

“Shiro?” She said softly. “Takashi?”

He blinked, lifting his gaze back to her.

“It’s okay,” Pidge told him. “You’re safe here. Remember?”

Shiro nodded vaguely. Pidge took both of his hands in hers, allowing him to complete his return away from the memories.

The nurse led them to an exam room, taking Shiro’s vital signs, the doctor coming in shortly after.

“How do you want to do this today, Takashi?” The doctor asked. “Save the worst for last or do it first?”

Shiro grimaced, shifting slightly on the exam table he sat on. “Last.”

The doctor nodded and got to work.

Pidge sat on the exam table beside Shiro the entire time, her hand in his, watching as the doctor checked Shiro’s heart and lungs, his ears and throat, his reflexes. Shiro’s prosthetic was removed so that the doctor could examine the residual limb there.

Then it came time for the worst parts. Shiro absolutely hated two things about check-ups: lights being shined in his eyes, and being poked and prodded while lying horizontal. These were the moments when he tensed up the most, and where the panic attacks started. 

They started with his eyes.

Shiro was already shaking slightly as the doctor reached for the flashlight, clicking it on.

Pidge squeezed his hand. “Hey. What kind of ice cream do you want to get after?”

Still shaking, Shiro answered, “The mint cookies-and-cream ice cream.”

“Ooh, that sound good,” She said. “Do you want to get something and take it home, or do you want to go out to an ice cream shop?”

“Home.” Shiro answered instantly as the light was shined in his eye.

“Alright. So after we leave, we’ll go to the grocery store and I’ll grab a carton or two of the mint cookies-and-cream. Do you want it in a cone or bowl? Because I know we don’t have any cones at the house.”

“Bowl.” Shiro answered as the doctor moved onto his other eye.

“How about I grab a pizza to do for lunch, too? You hardly ate anything for breakfast this morning.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Shiro said, breathing a sigh of relief as the doctor turned off the flashlight.

Pidge hopped off the table for the next part, stepping towards the head of the exam table as Shiro laid down. She grabbed his hand again and stroked his hair some more.

“I’m going to start the palpitation process,” The doctor said. “I’ll let you know when I start to use the stethoscope.”

As the doctor gently poked and prodded Shiro’s torso, Pidge asked, “What movie do you want to watch while we eat lunch?”

“I… I don’t know…” Shiro said.

“Disney or Dreamworks?” She prompted. She smiled teasingly. “How about _Shrek_?”

Shiro was not too far gone that he didn’t give her an “Are you kidding me?” look. Which meant that Pidge was succeeding.

“Maybe _Lilo and Stitch_?” He said. “That or _Tangled_.”

“We could do both,” Pidge told him. “Couch or the bedroom?”

“Couch,” Shiro answered. “But with that big quilt?”

“Of course,” Pidge said.

The doctor then asked for silence to use the stethoscope and Shiro leaned his head into Pidge’s hand as she used her fingers to gently massage his scalp.

She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief along with Shiro when it was all over.

This had been the easiest visit to the doctor’s office yet.

An hour later, she had Shiro seated on the couch, back in his pajamas and wrapped up in the big quilt. Pizza was cooking in the oven and the DVD player was queued up and ready to go to begin their movie. 

“I’m sorry,” Shiro mumbled as Pidge hopped onto the couch beside him, grabbing the remote.

“For what?” She asked, confused.

“For being difficult to take to the doctor,” Shiro said, tugging the quilt around him tighter. “I just… I can’t…”

Pidge pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I know. It’s not your fault, okay? You can’t help it. Look at me.” Shiro did so and she pressed a kiss to his nose. “You’re a survivor. You’re strong in so many ways. But even the strongest people need help sometimes.”

“I didn’t think that involved getting their wife to hold their hand at check-ups.”

Pidge lightly popped his hand with her finger. “No, none of that. You have PTSD, Shiro. You can’t control that. I know that, the doctor knows that, the nurses know that, everyone who knows you and cares for you in some way, shape, or form knows that. It doesn’t change a thing other than how we help make you comfortable. And besides,” she smiled at him. “I’ll take every opportunity I get to hold your hand.”

Shiro smiled and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Katie.”

They spent the afternoon, curled up on the couch with full bellies, wrapped up in that quilt, Pidge spooning Shiro as he fell asleep as the movie played.

Pidge hated dragging Shiro to the doctor. But she loved the afternoons after the appointments. Loved having an opportunity to cuddle and spoil her husband, to comfort him and show him how much she loved him.

Pidge pressed a kiss to the top of Shiro’s head, gently running her hand over his arm underneath the blankets.

She couldn’t undo the year of torture and pain that had been inflicted on him. But she could make the rest of his years full of love and comfort.


End file.
